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‘Matlock’ Creator Breaks Down That Big Finale Reveal, Teases ‘New Directions’ in Season 2

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Matlock” Season 1, Episode 18.

After a season full of anticipation, “Matlock” finally delivered the answer to the mystery being pursued by Kathy Bates’ Madeline Matlock.

In the Season 1 finale, Matty is forced to show her cards to Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), laying out her suspicion of Olympia’s ex-husband, Julian (Jason Ritter), for concealing a study that would’ve taken opioids off the market years earlier. Olympia thinks she’s cleared Julian’s name after not finding a payout in his bank account — which she rejoices about with Matty — but when she finds the Wellbrexa study in his safety deposit box, it’s apparent it was Julian who hid the documents.

While creator Jennie Snyder Urman admitted there were some debates about who could be culpable — Julian or Senior (Beau Bridges) — she and the team knew it had to be Julian.

“We realized that it had to be Julian — it would hurt the most for Olympia, and put Olympia in the most difficult position the next year, whereas if it was Senior, we were already thinking, ‘Oh, that guy has too much power and can be taken down, whereas Julian has, in different ways, redeemed himself,'” Snyder Urman told TheWrap. “It just feels more complicated for all everybody involved.”

Jason Ritter as Julian Markston on “Matlock” (Credit: CBS)

Olympia comes face-to-face with Julian in the bank after she discovers the study, prompting Julian to launch into a heartfelt confession, explaining that he handed in his resignation and pleading for Olympia to help him get rid of the documents to ensure he stays out of prison for the sake of their family.

“He made a really terrible mistake, and he’s tried to be a good person since then — should he be punished for this one thing?” Snyder Urman said. “He’s so real, and he’s so emotional, and I empathize with Julian, in that scene, and that’s what we wanted, is that it’s as difficult as possible. When you find the answer, it doesn’t bring the release that you were promised.”

With Matty only aware of Olympia’s last update about the lack of a payout in Julian’s account, the Season 1 finale leaves off with a big choice for Olympia to make: Will she tell Matty about her discovery and turn in Julian, or will she team up with Julian to bury the secret?

“Morality is one thing, and then it’s tested when it’s your family and your life on the line, and that’s what she’s going to encounter, and she’s going to have to make a decision,” Snyder Urman said of Olympia. “Does she align herself with Julian or with Matty? And what does that mean?”

Below, Snyder Urman breaks down how the discovery shocks Olympia, teases where the mystery goes from here and reveals how the entrance of Alfie’s potential father will destabilize Matty’s home life.

Did this discovery shock Olympia? Did she assume he was innocent?
She thought 98% when she first heard it, he wouldn’t do it, but it’s not 100 and she wishes it was 100. She’s really holding out, “It can’t be him. It can’t be him,” but there’s just the smallest “what if?” It’s genuine when she goes to the bank and when she sees that there was no missing money and that everything’s on the up and up, it’s a huge relief for Olympia that “the thing I was saying is true, and Matty was wrong, and now I can help actually enact justice,” which is something she does feel strongly about. If somebody did this terrible thing, she would want them to be held accountable, it’s just different if it’s your husband or the father of your children. It’s just devastation when she sees it there, it’s just her worst nightmare.

With this central mystery being solved, how does the mystery evolve from here?
The events of the ending really opened us up for really different dynamics in the second season, and the case twists. There’s only so much I can say without giving away what Olympia’s motivation is, but she and Matty could be swimming in the same direction, or they could be swimming against each other, and that’s what we’re investigating at the beginning of the same at the second season. What I can say is that the mystery that opens up is really interesting, is connected to the first, but it takes us in new directions in the law firm in interesting ways, and we will pose another set of questions that we will answer by the end, for sure. And I know what the ending of Season 2 is, and it’s really big and definitive.

It seems Edwin is ready to head back to California. Will Season 2 see Madeline shedding her identity as Matlock?
A lot of that has to do with how things unfold in the beginning of Season 2, and answers that question. But underneath that, whether she’s Madeline Matlock or Madeline Kingston, the question remains, is she going to continue working? And she has said definitively, “yes,” and she has said definitively, “no,” and so what happens when you’re at an impasse is what they’re going to have to work through, and they do in a really interesting way and unexpected, I think, and it leads to more fun and interesting avenues for us to explore.

Edwin and Matty have very real conversations about wanting different things in this part of their life. How do you hope these conversations resonate with viewers and where does it leave them?
It’s an interesting conversation in terms of what makes a life of value and what is the most important thing to someone and how career can be this beautiful other avenue that gives a lot — it’s not only seen as something you’re trying to retire for to get to your life. I hope to explore like real problems in long-term marriages, where the answer is not to separate, but how do you work through something if you’ve been with someone for 50 years and you just have a totally different opinion? That just feels like such an interesting, rich avenue of exploration in terms of long-term couples and things that they come up against, and how the problems you face now are so different than what you could have anticipated and who you want to be, why you’re solving problems with them in the latter part of your life. I don’t think we have enough expectations of or explorations of older and more lived in marriages, and I’m excited to get into that.

The finale also sees Alfie’s father appearing. What can we expect to see of that storyline next season?
This man has said he’s Alfie’s Father, we will find out if he’s Alfie’s father. The introduction of that character, of the fact that Alfie was looking for that character, destabilizes Maddie entire [home life] — they were a unit of three, and in some ways, they’re going to have to open up to this other person. Matty and Edwin have had all the control over Alfie, and this new person coming in … is really going to throw the equilibrium of the house completely off balance and struck one of the primary relationships in Matty’s life. Alfie and Maddie have been totally aligned … what happens when they’re not?

Claudia also returns to tell Billy she’s pregnant. What is Billy thinking in that moment?
He is finally over her. He is finally ready to tell her to “stop calling, don’t come around. I have moved on,” and she has this information, and it’s going to be the information drop changes his whole life. What their relationship is, what Claudia decides and how Billy feels about that decision … [are going to] open up so much fun for Billy in the second season.

What are you excited to dive into in Season 2?
In the first season, it’s really about this love story between Matty and Olympia and how they find each other, and this unexpected friendship that comes late in life. At the end of the season, Olympia finds something that could totally destroy that depending on what she does. When I look at it along the axis of the love story, it’s like, “what is Olympia going to do with this information, and how does her love story with Matty progress?” How are they going to fight for that relationship now that there’s this big obstacle between them?

I’m excited to lay out the structure of Jacobson Moore a little bit more — you’re going to learn about the power dynamics and widen the corporate environment now that Olympia has a seat at the table and is a partner. I just want to bring different characters together in new and interesting ways, while telling the core story that has a lot of tension and a lot of stakes and a lot of emotion behind it.

How much more of the show have you plotted out? How long do you hope it goes on?
We’ve just plotted the second season, but we’ve plotted our way through it all, all the twists and turns. It leads into where the next the third season would go very organically, so by the time you see the end of the end of the second season, you know where you’re starting the third season, and beyond that, I thought about about four, five, where I know shape. But beyond that, I don’t know, [we’ll] just be lucky to get there if we do.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“Matlock” is now streaming on Paramount+.

The post ‘Matlock’ Creator Breaks Down That Big Finale Reveal, Teases ‘New Directions’ in Season 2 appeared first on TheWrap.

‘9-1-1’ Episode 16 Trailer Shows Grim Funeral Procession, Eddie’s Return | Video

Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 15.

“9-1-1” fans were devastated on Thursday night to lose series mainstay Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), who ended up sacrificing his life to save colleague Chimney (Kenneth Choi) from a deadly supervirus.

In the trailer for the next episode, which airs on May 1, we see the impact Bobby’s death has on his fire family and his wife Athena (Angela Bassett) as they gather for a solemn funeral procession down the streets of Los Angeles.

Even Eddie (Ryan Guzman), who relocated to be in El Paso, Texas to reconnect with his son, is on hand for the sad occasion. We see shots of him in uniform, saluting alongside a devastated Buck (Oliver Stark), and helping carry Bobby’s coffin.

Chimney appears to be taking it the hardest. “Nobody blames you,” his brother-in-law Buck tells him. Chimney replies, “I blame him. He gave his life so I could live. I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do with that.”

Meanwhile, his widow Athena sobs to best friend Hen (Aisha Hinds), “He’s not supposed to be dead. He just left. He left me.”

Although over eight seasons, the show has been known for the miraculous recoveries of its firefighter and paramedics in the face of certain death, but showrunner Tim Minear said it was finally time to kill off one of the main characters.

“It had to happen eventually,” he told TheWrap. “I needed a major character death if I wanted, going forward, for the audience to feel any kind of suspense or that there were real stakes involved in any of the cases … If you feel like everyone’s going to be fine, I think that the show just dies of inertia at that point. So I felt like it was important.”

Krause called the decision a “bold creative choice,” adding, “Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this. First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day. His story arc honors them. We at ‘9-1-1’ salute all the incredible men and women who do these dangerous jobs and strive to keep us safe.”

Minear promised that the remaining three episodes of Season 8 will show the characters dealing with their loss. “I didn’t want to end the season on that. It’s too dark and cheap for the audience. You want to be with the characters in the direct aftermath of that and grieve with them. So it just felt like if not now, when?” he told TheWrap.

The post ‘9-1-1’ Episode 16 Trailer Shows Grim Funeral Procession, Eddie’s Return | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling’s ‘Star Wars’ Film Gets Title and Memorial Day Weekend 2027 Release

“Star Wars: Starfighter” will open exclusively in theaters May 28, 2027, Lucasfilm’s President Kathleen Kennedy and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni announced Thursday at Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan.

“Star Wars: Starfighter,” which will be directed by Shawn Levy and star Ryan Gosling, is a standalone adventure taking place approximately five years after the events of 2019’s “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.”

Star Wars: Starfighter comes to theaters on May 28, 2027. #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/dsbVb3VdBY

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 18, 2025

The film, which will begin production this Fall, is an entirely new adventure featuring all-new characters set in a period of time that has not been explored on screen yet.

“There are many rumors, some true, some not. … This is not a prequel, this is not a sequel. It’s a new adventure,” Levy said. “It was a great process. This is no longer a Star Wars movie in development. This is a Star Wars movie we’re making this fall!”

“This script is so good,” Gosling added. “It’s filled with so much heart and adventure and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.

“The Adam Project” writer Jonathan Tropper wrote the script.

Levy has been attached to the project since 2022 and additional details about the film are being kept under wraps. Tropper and Levy have previously collaborated on the 2014 family drama “This Is Where I Leave You,” as well as on the script for the Mark Raso-directed Netflix film “Kodachrome,” which Levy produced.

The post Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling’s ‘Star Wars’ Film Gets Title and Memorial Day Weekend 2027 Release appeared first on TheWrap.

‘9-1-1’ Star Peter Krause Speaks Out After Devastating Season 8 Twist, Says It’s a ‘Bold Creative Choice’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 15.

Peter Krause’s fire Captain Bobby Nash has been through a lot in eight seasons on “9-1-1,” including a near-fatal heart attack, being shot and almost drowning on a capsized cruise ship and somehow survived. Until this week, when he sacrificed himself to save a member of his team and died by the end of Episode 15.

The actor’s exit had not been announced ahead of time, making his character’s death that much harder on fans. Although a trailer scene in which Buck (Oliver Stark) lets out an anguished scream sparked speculation that only losing his father figure Bobby would affect him that deeply. (Buck’s BFF Eddie and his son Christopher were, of course, safely out out of harm’s way in Texas.)

This also marks the first major death on “9-1-1” in eight seasons, changing the stakes for the hit TV franchise moving forward.

In a statement to press, Krause said, “I’ve heard that many fans are upset by this loss and they have a right to be. It is a loss.”

He went on to say, “That said, it was more than a bold creative choice on a bold show. Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this. First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day. His story arc honors them. We at ‘9-1-1’ salute all the incredible men and women who do these dangerous jobs and strive to keep us safe. Our show is incredibly difficult to make at times with long hours, challenging stunts and elaborate disasters. We couldn’t do it without each other.”

“Lab Rats” saw the team fight to save Chimney (Kenneth Choi) from a deadly supervirus after his helmet cracked while responding to a lab fire. The second half of a two-part storyline seemed to be headed for a happy ending once Chimney received the antidote in the nick of time.

And then Bobby refused to leave the lab with the rest of the crew, telling Buck and then his wife Athena (Angela Bassett) that there was a leak in in the air hose to his Hazmat suit and that he knowingly gave the only existing dose of the antidote to Chimney.

He said a heartbreaking goodbye to Athena from the other side of a contamination zone in a clear homage to Spock (Leonard Nimoy’s) death in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” before kneeling to pray one last time.

Showrunner Tim Minear told TheWrap that it was his decision, not Krause’s to kill off the beloved character. With three episodes left this season, Minear said the show will follow the immediate aftermath of this massive loss and catapult into one last major emergency in the Season 8 finale.

But is Bobby really dead?

In March, footage of a funeral procession, with Bobby’s wife Athena (Angela Bassett) and her children walking behind a fire engine leaked, with fans assuming it might be a dream sequence.

Add in an image of a script — taken from a video posted by Aisha Hinds — that has Bobby calling 9-1-1 from his coffin that he’d been buried alive and it’s all fueled the fan theory that Bobby’s tragic death is going to be one big fakeout.

This week, Minear told TheWrap that the fire captain is absolutely, 100% dead, but then again, this is the franchise that featured a bee-nado in LA, a tsunami in Santa Monica and a volcano and an asteroid hitting Austin, Texas. Not to mention characters surviving despite being hit by lightning, having their throat cut by a serial killer and, perhaps most memorably, having a length of rebar rammed through their skull.

Minear did tell TheWrap, “Episode 15 is not Peter’s last appearance this season,” but he also insisted, “[The show] needed a major character death for the audience to feel that there were real stakes in any of these cases … Next season, when our characters are in a precarious situation, you might be gripping the arms of your chair a little bit tighter.”

“9-1-1” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

The post ‘9-1-1’ Star Peter Krause Speaks Out After Devastating Season 8 Twist, Says It’s a ‘Bold Creative Choice’ appeared first on TheWrap.

‘9-1-1’ Creator Breaks Down Show’s First Big Death and Choosing ‘the Scariest Character to Kill’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 15.

“9-1-1” may have resolved its latest catastrophic emergency. But for the first time across eight seasons, the firefighters of the 118 returned home having lost one of their own.

Episode 15, titled “Lab Rats” followed the aftermath of most of the firefighters getting stuck in a lab containing a dangerous virus that had infected Chimney (Kenneth Choi). Athena (Angela Bassett) and Buck (Oliver Stark) led the charge from the outside to secure an antiviral dose that would help heal their friend, even if it meant going against both the FBI and the U.S. Military. Like most “9-1-1” adventures, the team succeeds in saving Chimney with the sole dose of the virus and freeing the team from the lab, until Capt. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) locks himself back in and reveals he too was infected, but chose to sacrificed himself so Chimney would live. After sharing a heart-shattering goodbye with his wife Athena, Bobby succumbed to his illness and his body was taken out of the laboratory hours later in a body bag.

Bobby’s death marks the first major character to be killed off the Fox-turned-ABC first responder drama — one that will send shockwaves across both the series and its fandom. Creator Tim Minear told TheWrap a death felt necessary for the show to continue moving forward, having Bobby as the victim was about choosing “the scariest character to kill.”

Peter Krause in “9-1-1.” (Disney/Kevin Estrada)

“Bobby is the most impactful character to kill … it made sense on every level,” Minear said. “[The show] needed a major character death for the audience to feel that there were real stakes in any of these cases … Next season, when our characters are in a precarious situation, you might be gripping the arms of your chair a little bit tighter.”

Minear emphasized that the twist did not come from Krause wishing to leave the series either. Minear said he chose the character to put himself in a corner creatively, as he’s done many times before, to explore how the show and its characters will evolve from the loss of their fearless leader.

With three episodes left in Season 8, Minear also said “9-1-1” will dedicate significant time to the aftermath of Bobby’s death, so fans can “grieve” with the characters before moving forward to the next big emergency in the finale and Season 9 after that.

Below, Minear explains why it had to be Bobby and where the show goes next.

TheWrap: “9-1-1” killed off Bobby! It had to happen eventually but we finally lost a member of the 118 to a heroic ending. What led you to saying goodbye to the 118’s leader now?

Minear: It was a combination of things. Like you said, it had to happen eventually. I needed a major character death if I wanted, going forward, for the audience to feel any kind of suspense or that there were real stakes involved in any of the cases … If you feel like everyone’s going to be fine, I think that the show just dies of inertia at that point. So I felt like it was important.

Then when I was breaking this two-part lab leak episode, I saw an opportunity for an epic death. And what’s perfect about it is not only the scenario, but not making it the season finale. If I do this at this juncture in the season, I’ll have three episodes to process the loss. I didn’t want to end the season on that. It’s too dark and cheap for the audience … you want to be with the characters in the direct aftermath of that and grieve with them. So it just felt like if not now, when?

Kenneth Choi and Anirudh Pisharody in “9-1-1.” (Disney/Christopher Willard)

It’s such a hero’s ending for Bobby. Was Peter Krause ready to leave or did this come organically from the show? Why did it have to be Bobby?

This was entirely a creative decision. It’s not like Peter came to me and was like, “I’m ready to go.” That’s not at all what happened. Things could not have been better between us, the show, the cast, everyone was just happy as little clams. It would have been a lot easier to not do it and stay status quo. But you understand why, creatively, I needed to do something moving into Season 9.

The reason it was Bobby is because then I had to ask myself, “Who should it be?” I needed to pick the character that had the most impact on all the other characters. And there’s just no contest. Bobby is the scariest character to kill, the most impactful character to kill. And usually when I have written myself into a place where I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next, it forces something to come from that. So I just went with my instinct.

And not only does his death impact the other characters the most, it makes the most sense for Bobby. It is the conclusion of his complete arc of him coming to L.A. — a guy with a death wish — looking for redemption, finding love, finding his place in the world again, doing good works, really getting in touch with the decent man that he is. And then when he’s put in a position where he’s got to sacrifice himself to save those around him, he does it without hesitation. But it’s not because he has a death wish. It’s because now life means everything to him, and it is a real sacrifice and actual atonement for what his origin story was. It makes sense in every way.

We will get the chance to watch the characters react to this in real time, but this also sets the show up for big changes ahead. Where do we go from here?

The rest of the season is going to be lovingly reacting to that big moment. I don’t want to give away the end of the season, but as soon as I committed to this, it felt like the world of the show just felt much more real to me.

I have never killed off a character before where it’s been like this. I was known as the Tim Reaper when I was on “Angel.” But on this show that takes place in a heightened version of the real world — where I could always land the plane or right the ship, or get them out of the tsunami — on this particular show, I think to everybody, the crew and the cast, this death just hit differently.

It felt like for the month leading up to the actual event we were about to lose somebody that we loved, and I know Peter felt that way. I mean, look, he is bonded with all the cast and crew and me over the last eight years.

Angela Bassett and Oliver Stark in “9-1-1.” (Disney/Ray Mickshaw)

Bobby is the heart and leader of this team. What does leadership of the 118 look like from here? Can we expect a promotion from within or a brand new face?

We are not quite there yet. I don’t want to short circuit the potential for story that this entire thing has opened up. That question is one of the stories.

We will be reeling from this one for a while, but it would not be “9-1-1” without a bonkers finale ahead. What can you tease about what’s coming?

I’m really excited about the next three episodes. It allows me to deal with what happened, and then Episode 17 will end on a cliffhanger and we’ll have a big emergency in the finale. That has not changed. But everything for the last three episodes is in some way, shape or form about the fact that Bobby is not there anymore.

Will we see Bobby again?

Episode 15 is not Peter’s last appearance this season.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

“9-1-1” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

The post ‘9-1-1’ Creator Breaks Down Show’s First Big Death and Choosing ‘the Scariest Character to Kill’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Ben Affleck Gripes the Batman Costume Was ‘Horrendous to Wear’: ‘No Thought Put Into the Human Being’ | Video

Ben Affleck agrees with his fellow Bat-actors that wearing Batman’s costumed sucks.

While breaking down his acting career with GQ, Affleck looked back with terror at the long – and hot – days he spent as the Caped Crusader across a number of DC live-action movies.

“I hated the batsuits,” he said. “The batsuits are horrendous to wear. They’re incredibly hot, for one thing. They don’t breathe. They’re made to look the way they want them to look, and there’s no thought put into the human being.”

He continued about the heat trapped by the suit: “Now I’m already—I sweat, you know what I mean? I get hot. And so in that thing, you would just be pouring water because it’s got the cowl over it. Like, there’s one thing to wear the suit, but once you cover your head, I guess that’s where all your heat kind of escapes and you feel it.”

Affleck played Batman a few times. He first appeared in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” before reprising his role in “Justice League” – which famously got a straight-to-Max Zach Snyder cut of the film that broke a four hour runtime. Lastly, he donned the cape and cowl one final time briefly in 2023’s “The Flash.”

The former Batman actor spoke a lot about his superhero days while promoting his latest film “The Accountant 2.” Among his many realizations was that the bleak look the films took toward the comic book heroes might have alienated some fans.

“It was something we really went for in the first movie,” Affleck said. “But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience. Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, ‘Oh s—t, we have a problem.’”

You can watch the clip below:

The post Ben Affleck Gripes the Batman Costume Was ‘Horrendous to Wear’: ‘No Thought Put Into the Human Being’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Trump Escalates Harvard Attacks by Telling IRS to Revoke Tax Exempt Status

Donald Trump significantly escalated his war on higher education generally and on Harvard University specifically on Wednesday, telling the IRS to revoke the school’s tax exempt status.

According to CNN, which first reported the news, the IRS is now making plans to do just that, with a final decision expected in the next couple of days.

As the New York Times noted Wednesday night, Trump’s order to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption is in fact illegal. Federal law forbids the president from directing the agency to audit or investigate specific targets.

The move comes two days after the administration froze Harvard’s public funding in order to punish the school for refusing to comply with increasingly flagrant demands to prioritize right wing policy and hiring decisions.

Harvard president Alan Garber announced that the school would not comply with demands to discontinue diversity efforts, limit or outright ban student protests, install right wing faculty essentially hand-picked by the administration and spy on international students, among other things.

It was the first major university to explicitly refuse such demands. No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said in a statement to university affiliates. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

Harvard has not issued comment about this latest attack, but legal experts say any such action would be subject to court challenges the school would likely win.

The post Trump Escalates Harvard Attacks by Telling IRS to Revoke Tax Exempt Status appeared first on TheWrap.

Chris Hayes Warns Americans ‘Are Going to Pay the Price’ for Trump’s ‘War on Tourism’ | Video

Chris Hayes had a bleak comment on Wednesday about yet another downside to the policies pursued by the Trump administration — the deepening economic impact of the administration’s persecution of immigrants and even tourists that amounts to what Hayes called a “war on tourism.”

Hayes noted that we’re already seeing disastrous economic effects, notably a steep and sudden drop in the number of tourists coming to the United States amid illegal deportations and detainments for even minor issues. And Hayes warned it’s likely to get worse, particularly as it pertains to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. In the end, Americans are going to pay the price.”

Hayes began the commentary by bringing up the upcoming Olympics, noting that “this is a big deal, because when the world’s biggest sport event comes to your country, get a lot of tourists, a ton of revenue, global prestige that comes with hosting the Games. Last year’s Paris Olympics have more than 11 million paying visitors, and, of course, many more TV viewers watching and saying to themselves., ‘you know, we should visit Paris sometime.’ And under normal circumstances, LA could expect to see similar benefits. Last year, officials predicted the LA Olympics could generate $7 billion in revenue, with a significant chunk of that coming from foreign tourists. But circumstances aren’t exactly normal, are they? Donald Trump’s entire shtick as president is that America is being ripped off by foreigners, and we’re kicking people out, not letting people in. Heck, we’ve canceled the visas of more than 1000 foreign students in US colleges let many of them be hunted down for deportation with no due process.”

Hayes then noted some chilling comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend: “Visiting America is not an entitlement to your rights. It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values.”

“It’s policy born out of the general MAGA worldview that says that foreigners are taking from our society without contributing,” Hayes continued, adding that there is one portion of the economy in which “America has always run a huge trade surplus with the rest of the world.” Tourism to the United States.

“The US travel industry says it generated $1.3 trillion last year and supported 15 million American jobs,” Hayes continued. “That’s not just from foreign families on holiday. Much of it also comes from an educational system that was the envy of the world until a couple of months ago, because the world also sends its budding scientists and engineers and doctors to America to get educated. And then Americans again, take their tuition dollars, right?”

Hayes even noted one particularly famous example of this, Elon Musk, the South Africa-born billionaire now serving as one of Trump’s top allies who first came to America as a student. “His immigration status during those early years a little unclear, by the way,” Hayes quipped.

“Again, this is a very common story, and now the US is basically trying to chase all these people out with these ludicrous mass visa cancelations, which appeared to start as a kind of ideological crusade against people that had like wrongthink on the issue of the war in Gaza, but now they’re just on this just incomprehensively capricious spree where they appear to be just getting anyone that’s got any kind of infractions, including people who had none that none, that are maybe made up or an error,” Hayes went on, at this point citing multiple examples of this.

“Now, the effect of all this on people coming to this great country and on US tourism is exactly what you’d expect it to be,” Hayes said as he displayed charts showing the aforementioned deep decline in tourism to the U.S.

“Goldman Sachs says reduced travel and boycotts could cost the US almost $90 billion in lost GDP this year alone. Again, can’t stress this enough, that’s money that flows from foreigners to Americans that Donald Trump, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to possibly choke off. Trump can Bray all he wants about sticking it to those no good foreigners. But in the same way it’s actually Americans who are going to be the ones to pay the tariffs, when it comes to his and Marco Rubio’s war on tourism, it’s Americans that are going to pay the price,” Hayes concluded.

Watch the clip below:

The post Chris Hayes Warns Americans ‘Are Going to Pay the Price’ for Trump’s ‘War on Tourism’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

George Clooney Thinks Wes Moore Should Lead the Democratic Party: ‘He’s a Proper Leader’

George Clooney thinks Wes Moore is “levitating” above other possible candidates for leader of the Democratic Party.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Clooney was asked who had caught his eye in the growing field of potential leaders of the left following their 2024 election defeat. The actor pointed to the governor of Maryland.

“He is the guy that has handled this tragedy in Baltimore beautifully,” Clooney told Tapper. “He had two tours of duty in Afghanistan, active duty. He speaks sort of beautifully. He’s smart. He ran a hedge fund. He ran the Robin Hood Foundation. He’s a proper leader.”

George Clooney on his new Broadway show, his Biden op-ed & who should lead the Democratic Party
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He continued: “I like him a lot. I think he could be someone we could all join in behind.”

Among the questions, Tapper also asked Clooney about the New York Times op-ed he wrote last July urging President Joe Biden to drop out of the election following a dismal debate performance against Donald Trump. Biden dropped out less than two weeks later. Tapper said the actor was considered “brave” by many for writing the piece.

“I don’t know if it was brave. It was a civic duty,” Clooney said. “I’m a Democrat in Kentucky, so I get it. When I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time to … .”

“Are people still mad at you for that?” Tapper then questioned.

“Some people, sure,” Clooney responded. “That’s OK. Listen, the idea of Freedom of Speech — the specific idea of it — is you can’t demand Freedom of Speech and then say, ‘But don’t say bad things about me.’ That’s the deal. You have to take your stand if you believe in it. Take a stand, stand for it and then deal with the consequences. That’s the rules.”

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‘Abbott Elementary’ Bosses Unpack Ava’s Strides by Season 4 Finale, Tease ‘New Beats’ in Season 5

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Abbott Elementary” Season 4, Episode 22.

After “Abbott Elementary” shook up dynamics with Ava’s firing earlier this season, the Season 4 finale restored Ava back to her rightful place: Behind the principal’s desk.

As soon as Ava (Janelle James) returns as principal, she begins her “second term” by instituting a number of questionable executive orders, which showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker said Ava likely heard in the zeitgeist in the midst of Trump’s recent slew of executive orders and begin using the term herself. Despite getting right back to her shenanigans, it’s undeniable that some character growth happened during her time away from Abbott.

“She certainly made strides in her job and what she cares about — she made this decision to come back to the school, even though she obviously could have made more money elsewhere, so that’s certainly character growth,” Halpern told TheWrap. “She is growing a little bit, but really what’s happening is the audience is understanding of her is growing.”

Schumacker added that Season 4 has seen Ava’s “genuine confidence” grow after seeing her facade shatter and her vulnerability creep through during her firing, noting that Ava reaching out for help from the other teachers was a real moment of growth for her.

“She’s still outwardly acting the same, but I think inside there’s no hint of imposter syndrome or anything like that anymore,” Schumacker said.

Just as Season 4 put a spotlight on James’ Ava — including in her relationship with her father and newfound love interest in O’Shon (Matthew Law) — the showrunners are looking forward to highlighting some different storylines in the upcoming fifth season, including Melissa’s relationship with Captain Robinson (Mike O’Malley) and taking Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Barbara to a “new, reinvigorated place” with “new beats.”

“Seeing those scenes with Barbara in that context of … having to suffer through the shenanigans of the slightly older students getting more pushback than she ever would from her kindergarteners is a really just fun conflict to see Sheryl and Barbara struggle with,” Schumacker said of Barbara taking over the music class.

Below, the showrunners break down what Ava’s return as principal means for Gregory’s aspirations, how they crafted that moment with Gregory’s dad and tease what fans can potentially look forward to next season.

TheWrap: As Ava returns, Gregory leaves his post as interim principal. Is he happy to return to teaching or does he still aspire to be a principal?

Halpern: I don’t think in any world does he ever want to take Ava’s job — he wouldn’t want to keep her from that. He loves her as principal now, or thinks she does a good job, even if he doesn’t always love it. But I definitely think it awoke something in him. It reminded him of why he does like that position, why he originally wanted to be in that position. I don’t know if that’s something we’re going to dig into or not, but I certainly think in the episodes you saw, we wanted the audience to think, “This guy is good at this, and this is what he initially wanted to do.”

We also see Janine struggling to ensure she has a good relationship with Gregory’s dad. Why was this the backstory you envisioned for Gregory’s dad?

Halpern: We’d always been interested in what Gregory’s upbringing was like, and we’ve been slowly layering it on, because Gregory is not a character who’s just going to, in a confessional to camera, tell them how he’s feeling and tell them anything other than what they’ve asked him to say. It felt like an opportunity to take a sitcom trope, which is, “you’re going to meet my parents for the first time,” and then subvert it by saying, “Oh, actually, this isn’t a story about whether or not my your parents are going to like me — It’s a story about what I haven’t really understood about my father and what can help me get a greater understanding of who I am and where I came from?”

Disney/Gilles Mingasson

With Gregory’s dad coming to meet Janine is it possible Taraji P. Henson could also return as Janine’s mom to meet Gregory in a boyfriend context?

Schumacker: I think that’s absolutely a possibility. We haven’t started breaking the season. We loved working with Taraji — we would love to have her back on the show. She’s obviously an in-demand actor, so if the stars align, I could absolutely see that happening.

We’ve met a handful of family members over the years, who else would you like to meet?

Halpern: I want to meet some of Mr. Johnson’s family.

Schumacker: I want to meet Mr. Johnson’s grandfather.

Halpern: We always make jokes in the writers’ room that Mr. Johnson references his alive grandparents.

This season as a whole explore the golf course and gentrification and the consequences there. What do you hope viewers take away from this storyline?

Halpern: I hope that people watch this and laugh first — that’s always our first goal. The reason we did it this season was because it’s actually happening in the area where fictional Abbott would be — there’s a push and pull to that. Being able to do that episode where the community comes to rally to save Ava, I think is is something that nicely dovetailed with communities investing in their schools, and then people from outside the community coming in. I think one of the things about gentrification is it pushes out the people that were in that community — It makes it unaffordable for them, and I think the hope is you see that these communities have been there. They’re established and if anything, we should invest in these communities and invest in public education.

This season put a special focus on Ava and she committed to her new love interest. Will he be back next season, even though Matthew Law is a series regular on Netflix’s “Nemesis?”

Schumacker: That’s the hope — that schedules work out and all that. He’s just fantastic in the show — a lovely human [and we] want to work with him all the time as well. Hopefully it being a Netflix show, for our sake, it’s a shorter order and he becomes available for us.

Looking back, that twist really packed a punch, can fans expect similar twists and turns in the future?

We haven’t started breaking Season 5 yet, so it’s hard to say, but I really enjoyed how we ended up doing this season. Typically, we have a much clearer idea of where we want to go to at the end of the season, and this time it was a little bit nebulous, honestly, for the last five episodes, let’s say, we wanted to wrap up certain storylines, but I think we arrived at a great place. I think part of that was we had that openness to arriving at that place. I could see us attempting that sort of style again — it’s not as good for production, because when we have that North Star locked in from the beginning, we can get ahead of things and that means, more prep time for everybody in our department and all the departments, so toward the end of this season, it was a little bit more of a like, “Hey, we gotta crank.” [It’s] hard to say whether or not we’re gonna have such a giant, impactful plot point happening at the end of the season with a character like that.

This season also had the “It’s Always Sunny” crossover episode. What did you learn from that and what are your thoughts now on potentially crossing over with another show in the future?

Schumacker: My takeaway from that is never doubt Quinta’s ability to, by sheer force of will, just make something happen. [I remember] thinking, “that’s never gonna happen in a million years.” and then, through a little bit of luck and a lot of just sheer force of will on both sides with Rob and Charlie and Glenn and everybody — they just made it happen. We’re a co-production with Warner Brothers and 20th and “Sunny” is obviously part of the Disney family, so that helped ease it a little bit too. Sometimes corporate synergy leads to good things.

In terms of another crossover, we haven’t talked about anything in earnest. That was a process of making that one happen, and so [we’re] definitely open to it, not necessarily be like chomping at the bit, because we’re tired, but we will be reinvigorated in like a month when the writers’ room starts back up and who knows? We shoot right across the street from “The Pitt.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“Abbott Elementary” Season 4 is now streaming on Hulu.

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